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KHOBA AND ALICE McDOYLE, 

Hurapbackci Rhoda— p. 4. 


/' 

V 

Humpbacked Rhoda. 


BY THE AUTHOR OF 

“THREE CHRISTMAS DAYs/* 



EICHAIOND: 

PRESBYTERIAN COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION. 


& 

,H8123 


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, b, 

CHARLES GENNET, 
in trust, as 

. Treasurer of Publication of the General Assembly of the Pris- 

BYTERIAN ChURCH IN THE UNITED STATES, 

In the ofiBce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 


HUMPBACKED RHODa. 


CHAPTER I. 

can’t play!” don’t want 

you!” “No, Ehoda Fenn can’t play 
^ I spy.’ ” “ Come on ! Leave her there.” 

Cruel words they were to the ears of the 
poor little deformed girl who stood wistfully 
by the school-house steps while her mates in 
eager groups hurried to the playground ! A 
moment more, and they were all gone. 
Ehoda sat down and leaned her head in the 
doorway. There was a hard lump in her 
throat, and a bitter tear or two escaped from 
her heavy eyes. She could have cried heart- 
ily, but this was not the first time the 
thoughtless children with slights and unkind 
neglect had left her alone and desolate. 


4 


HUMPBACKED KHODA. 


She thought she was getting used to it. 
But this bright morning, the air so full of 
life and every living thing so gay and free, 
she felt herself strong and well. Breathing 
the universal exhilaration, she forgot for the 
moment that her limbs were so slender and 
weak and her back so constantly painful. 

I almost know,” she murmured, that I 
could run as Well as the rest of them if they^d 
only let me.” And her eyes wandered long- 
ingly to the merry groups whose shouts of 
joyous laughter rang on the morning air. 

Perhaps the sight of the little bent fig- 
ure in the doorway caught the eye of Alice 
McDoyle in one of her swift runs to the goal, 
for soon a substitute was seen taking her 
place in the game, and her light form was 
bounding down the hillside, over the brook, 
and up the worn, narrow path to the school- 
house. 

The next instant her arms were about 
Bhoda’s neck and all her heart going out in 
pitying words and loving caresses. 


HUMPBACKED KHODA. 


5 


It’s too bad — ^too bad — too bad, Ehoda !” 
said she. Oh how could we all go off and 
forget you so ? Will you forgive me, 
Ehoda 

Forgive her! Just as if she of all the 
thoughtless number had not always been the 
poor girl’s only comforter. 

Sweet Alice McDoyle ! The only child of 
the good minister in that old-fashioned coun- 
try parish, her mother counted a very angel 
among the worthy people, it could not be 
otherwise than that, with training such as 
hers, her heart should be loving and kind 
and full of pity for all distress. So it hap- 
pened that often poor, humpbacked Ehoda, 
suffering under some new stroke of heartless 
neglect or taunt of cruel playmate, had found 
in Alice a tender sympathizer and, as far as 
it was possible, protector. Indeed, upon this 
foundation there had arisen a structure of 
real friendship, one of those sweet child-loves 
so beautiful in their innocence of convention- 
ality and affectation. It was the cause of 


6 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


their daily lamentation that they lived in op- 
posite directions from school, that because of 
E-hoda’s diminutive stature they could not 
occupy the same desk, and that, on account 
of the difference in their attainments, they 
could not be in the same classes. 

In age they were the same, but this was 
Ehoda’s first season at school. She lived 
with her grandmother, old Mrs. Pettibone^ 
away on East Mountain, in a poor, brown 
house, before which stood two tall poplars, 
like ancient sentinels, now half decayed and 
leafless. 

Here little Rhoda was brought when a 
baby by Mrs. Pettibone’s daughter, whose 
husband had died leaving her penniless and 
sick. She did not live long. The baby 
never remembered her mother. She only 
knew when she grew older that dear, good 
old grandma had been both father and 
mother to her. 

With inexpressible tenderness the old lady 
loved this little orphan — the more when she 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


7 


found that from the effects of an early and 
dreadful fall she would be disfigured, perhaps 
crippled, for life. 

Ehoda was never well, and partly for this 
reason, partly because of the exposure to 
slights and perchance ridicule which her 
grandmother so much dreaded for her, she 
had been kept closely at home. But she had 
learned to read and spell, and never cared to 
go among other children^ whose curious looks 
and overheard exclamations of pity caused 
her to shrink sensitively from their associa- 
tion. So she had never attended school till 
this eventful summer. 

The teacher, in her walks to other homes, 
had often passed by the poor cottage, and 
caught glimpses of the bright, earnest face 
sometimes framed in the narrow window- 
sash, sometimes bent over a book outspread 
on the great rock at the foot of one of the 
old poplars, and oftener leaning against the 
side of the doorway, Rhoda’s favourite atti- 
tude. 


8 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


Don’t you want to come to school, little 
girl?” she said to her one morning. And 
Rhoda, won immediately by the kind voice 
and smile, replied, ^^Yes, ma’am.” And 
then instantly a cloud came over her face, 
and she added, I don’t know — no, ma’am.” 

But the teacher, learning first from Mrs. 
Pettibone the whole sad history, overcame at 
last the fears of both, and took the little 
humpbacked orphan with her to school, 
where, during school-hours, she was happy 
and content. It was when recesses came and 
during the long noonings ” that she felt the 
difference between herself and others. 

More than once she had carried a heavy 
heart home to her grandmother and said she 
could never go again. Indeed, she would 
have given it up many times had she not 
learned to love Miss Melvin so dearly, and 
dear Alice McDoyle. 


CHAPTER II. 


rriHE two little girls sat a loDg time to- 
gether on the stone steps, the brown hair 
of the orphan lying against Alice’s golden 
curls and her two hands folded together in 
her lap, while Alice stroked soothingly her 
forehead. 

^^Poor Rhoda!” she whispered. ^^But I 
love you dearly. Oh, don’t cry! And so 
does Miss Melvin.” 

^^And so Jesus too,” added Rhoda, 
softly. And then Alice was silent. She 
knew nothing of the love of this good Friend 
and the comfort which He gives to sorrowing 
hearts, and she felt that if Rhoda knew she 
was far beyond her. She could say nothing 
more. 

The bell struck, and the- two rose to go in 
to their lessons. Oh what a contrast they 

9 


10 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


presented ! The one, fair, strong and beauti- j 
fill, with rosy cheeks and a figure of grace ; | 

the other, pale, weak in all her motions, her | 

form distorted and misshapen. An equal , 
contrast shone in their faces and a greater one 
existed in their hearts. Alice looked disturb- 
ed and unhappy. Those last words on the 
doorsteps had aroused anew the uneasiness 
of a heart not at peace with God. Conscience 
was whispering in her unwilling ear, ^^You 
don’t love Jesus. You ought to love Him. 
Why don’t you ?” 

E-hoda, having thrust from her heart the 
envious and angry feelings that at first rose 
up within her and prayed silently that she . 
might be patient still, was thinking now how 
kind God was to give her yet so many loving 
friends, and how Jesus Christ, the best of all 
friends, was the same yesterday, to-day and 
for ever.” Grandmother had read the verse 
that very morning. A peaceful smile cover- 
ed all her face and the light of sweet content 
shone in her eyes, so that Miss Melvin never 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


11 


noticed that the lids were swollen with late 
weeping, or dreamed of the struggle that had 
been going on in her heart. 

But when, at close of school, Ehoda linger- 
ed for another and another good-night kiss, 
looking with an unusual wistfulness into her 
face. Miss Melvin said : 

Is there anything you wish to say to me, 
Ehoda 

^^No, ma’am; only that I love you so 
much — so much.” 

^^And I love you too, my poor little 
Ehoda !” 

Oh, don’t say that, please. Miss Melvin, 
for indeed God is so good to me I don’t 
think I am poor at all.” 

‘^And is it because you feel so rich that 
you always wear a smile and keep so patient, 
even when the children tease you ?” 

Oh, but I am not patient. Indeed, Miss 
Melvin, you don’t know. Only to-day I felt 
so impatient and so wrong.” 

^^Well, I am sure those feelings did not 


12 HUMPBACKED RHODA. 

last long, for all day your face has expressed 
quite the contrary.” 

Oh, they could not. Miss Melvin ; when 
I remembered the Lord Jesus, I forgot for a 
minute — ” 

She coloured a little and looked down, im- 
agining she saw in Miss Melvin’s face disap- 
proval either of the subject or of her bold- 
ness in speaking of it. But it was only self- 
reproach and pain at the contrast presented 
between her own heart and that of the meek 
little sufferer at her side. She felt conscious 
of rebellion at the thought even of Rhoda’s 
misfortune. What if it had happened to 
herself! She knew she could never submit 
to it. She would wish she were dead. She 
would wish to kill the ugly children that call- 
ed her names and ridiculed her deformity. 
She would even curse God for making her 
thus. 

The consciousness of these wicked thoughts 
made her turn away from the peaceful face, 
across which the golden sun was throwing 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


13 


gleams of radiance as it hastened to its set- 
ting. 

A far-away look in Rhoda’s eyes told that 
she was not gazing through the open door on 
the lengthening shadows upon the hillside, 
nor on the richness of the summer sunset. 
What she did see might have been guessed 
from her next words, spoken softly and rev- 
erently : 

“Miss Melvin, grandma says I shall be 
straight like other children when I am with 
the angels.” 

There was no answer save a quick impuls- 
ive kiss and a tear that dropped on Rhoda^s 
own lashes as her teacher rose, tied the little 
gingham sun-bonnet under her chin, put on 
her own hat and led the way out of the school- 
house. Hand in hand they went down the 
shady road, growing dusky now, Rhoda too 
quietly happy for words and Miss Melvin 
too engrossed with painful self-communing. 

So it was a silent walk, that mile and a 
half before the brown cottage was reached, 
2 


14 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


There, leaning over the gate, stood the old 
grandmother, anxiously looking down the 
road. 

^^How late you are, little daughter!’^ she 
said, caressingly. 

I kept her, Mrs. Pettibone,” Miss Melvin 
explained, and, not trusting herself to say 
more, hastened on with a thoughtful and 
serious countenance. Little guessed Rhoda 
the tumult her words had awakened in the 
young teacher’s breast. But when she knelt 
at her evening prayer that night she plead 
that God would bless her and sweet Alice 
McDoyle, and give them each a new heart. 

• Then she lay down to her peaceful slumber, 
and the angels of God watched over her. 
Nay, God Himself kept the stricken one under 
the shadow of His wings, and she was safe. 


CHAPTER III. 


'XTTHILE Rhoda slept sweetly under the 
* * homely quilt in her grandmother’s bed- 
room, and the old lady sat at her knitting in 
the adjacent kitchen, Alice McDoyle lay 
broad awake in her little white-curtained bed 
at the parsonage. She too had prayed before 
she lay down — at least had gone through the!* 
form of prayer. She had practiced this all 
her life, and would have thought the omission 
of it something fearfully wrong. But often 
there was little of true prayer in the act. It 
was a hollow repetition of words, and God 
seemed very far off. But to-night, as she re- 
peated the customary Our Father,” Rhoda’s 
words as they sat together on the school-house 
steps came to her mind, and she could not 
silence the still, small voice that whispered 


16 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


again in her ear, ^^You don’t love Jesus. 
You ought to love Him.” 

For a long time these thoughts kept her 
awake. She could hear the distant hum of 
voices, and knew that her father and mother 
were still talking by the open fire in the sit- 
ting-room. Presently the clock struck. She 
counted the strokes — seven — eight — nine. 

Now it is prayer-time,” she said to her- 
self. Then there was a low sound which she 
knew was her father’s voice in prayer. She 
knew, too, that he would pray for her, that he 
•would ask God to make her a good child, 
who should walk in all the commandments 
and ordinances of the Lord. She had become 
so accustomed to hear this petition that she 
little heeded its meaning. Now it seemed to 
mean so much. She thought of Rhoda, and 
wondered if she had anybody to pray thus 
for her. “Did they have family prayer at 
Mrs. Pettibone’s ?” she queried. 

At last she fell asleep, and dreamed that she 
and Rhoda were floating away together on a 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


17 


beautiful silver cloud toward heaven. Over 
them hovered a shining angel, whose robes 
were golden light and whose brow was 
crowned with a coronet of glistening stars. 

Presently she saw the angel bend nearer to 
them and gaze intently and, she fancied, sad- 
ly at her. Then a voice said, Oh no ! this 
is not one of the fair earth-flowers I was 
bidden to gather. It would never bloom in 
the celestial garden.’^ Then the angel 
touched the cloud and it parted. Alice saw 
the silver, folds wreathe themselves around 
the spirit-form of her little friend and float 
far away out of sight, the beautiful angel still 
smiling near, while her own cloud pillow, no 
longer fringed with tints of rainbow beauty, 
but leaden and dull, melted away and she 
fell down — down — down to earth again. 

^^Wake up, Khoda!^^ called the tender, 
quivering voice of grandma from the kitchen, 
where she was getting breakfast for two, 
thinking all the while how she could make 
it tempting for her darling. 

2 * 


18 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


^‘Wake up, Khoda!’^ carolled a robin on 
the nearest branch of the old apple tree by 
her window. 

^^Wake up, Ehoda!’’ seemed to say a 
golden sunbeam that, having pushed its way 
between the fragrant blossoms and green 
leaves of the same old tree, essayed to creep 
under the lashes of the quiet slumberer. 

Wake up purred kitty, Ehoda’s one 
only pet, whose velvet feet came treading 
softly up to her pillow. 

So to the music of this odd quartette Ehoda 
opened her eyes on the new day ; opened her 
heart to the sweet influences of the bright 
May morning ; opened her lips in praises to 
Him who had 
it. 

Alice McDoyle woke to the sound of the ^ 
breakfast bell, unwelcomely breaking in upon ^ 
the heavy sleep in which her dreams* had at 
last ended. Her gentle mother an hour be- 
fore had looked in, and, fancying her little 
daughter looked tired or not well, had softly 


permitted her to see and enjoy 


HUMPBACKED BHODA. 


19 


shut the door and left her, to take her nap 
out, dear child I” 

Consciousness at length slowly returning, 
she remembered her thoughts the night be- 
fore and her singular dream. 

A sense of something undone, of duty un- 
fulfilled, oppressed her. ^ And so commenced 
the new day with Alice, the child of many 
prayers, dutiful, afifectionate, always obedient 
and kind, lacking but the one thing needful. 
Would she seek that now? 

Under another roof — that of a great farm- 
house just half a mile beyond the small 
cottage of Mrs. Pettibone — Miss Melvin the 
teacher had a temporary home. At her win- 
dow too the birds had sung merrily this joy- 
ous morning ; the children had been frolick- 
ing gleefully a full half hour in the yard 
below. But she heard nothing until Joe, the 
farmer’s eldest son, having already taken his 
own early breakfast and yoked his cattle 
while they were still munching theirs, in a 
meditative way cracked his long cart-whip 


20 


V 

HUMPBACKED RHODA. 

cind shouted, then! Haw, Buck! Get 

up. Bright !’’ as they started for the field. 

It sounded to her like a call to work, to 
work ! 

While she dressed the sound of rattling 
pans reached her from the dairy and seemed 
to say, “Work! work!” 

Bobbie, the boy next younger than Joe, 
was chopping wood by the grindstone under 
the big pear tree, and the steady crack of his 
axe on the oaken logs repeated the word, 
“Work! work!” 

“And nine o’clock will soon come, bringing 
my work,” thought Miss Melvin. “ Pleasant 
work, too, if all the children were like Bhoda 
Fenn and Alice McDoyle, but some of them 
are insufferably hateful!” And a sigh es- 
caped her at the remembrance of her trials, 
daily renewed, with intellects dull, manners 
uncouth and tempers obstinate. Just then, 
the last touch having been added to her 
simple toilet, her eye fell on a verse of the 
open Bible which lay on the dressing-table just 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


21 


as she had left it, on retiring, after vaguely 
turning over its leaves, thinking of her strange 
pupil, that little patient, deformed creature,” 
and saying to herself, “ There must be some- 
thing in religion. But IVe said many a 
time I didnft believe it.” 

The passage her eye rested on was this : 

^^Work out your own salvation with fear 
and trembling.” 

^^Work, work, still! And this is per- 
sonal,” she reflected. ^^Oh pshaw!” inter- 
rupting herself with a sudden exclamation; 

can’t I put these things out of my mind ?” 
Conducive to which end, she hastened down 
stairs, where she found her breakfast kept 
warm and waiting by the good farmer’s wife. 


CHAPTER IV. 


HALF hour’s chat with busy, bustliug 



Mrs. Brown, whose work seemed in no 
wise hindered whether she listened or talked, 
and then Miss Melvin set out for school, 
armed with a small basket containing her 
midday lunch, as a part of which, the good 
woman informed her, she had tucked in a 
good slice of that ’ere cheese.” 

By her side trotted two sturdy young broth-, 
ers of Joe and Bob, and clinging to hers by 
one chubby hand three-years-old Mary, the 
only daughter of the house of Brown. 

Down the steep, winding mountain road 
they went, and were soon in sight of the talt 
poplars, under which, seated on the big rock 
waiting for them, appeared Rhoda. 

Hullo ! Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall !” 
cried the little Browns, and were only checked. 


HUMPBACKED KHODA. 


23 


by the teacher’s imperative ^^Hush !” just in 
time to prevent their words from reaching the 
ears of the unconscious child. She might 
have heard them even then had not her at- 
tention been so absorbed by her pet, the white 
kitten, around whose neck she had fastened 
a wreath of apple blossoms. Good-bye, my 
Fleecy darling,” she was saying ; “ I’m sorry 
you can’t go to school with me. But you 
must be a very good kitty at home till I 
come back, will you? Now, mind!” she 
added, with finger uplifted and shaken warn- 
ingly over pussy’s head ; you are not to pull 
grandma’s knitting to pieces, nor steal any- 
thing out of the pantry, nor catch any dear 
little birds in the apple tree, nor — ” 

Here she stopped, becoming suddenly aware 
of listeners. ' 

^^Oh, Miss Melvin,” she cried when she 
saw who it was, isn’t Fleecy so sweet? 
And isn’t it such a pity she can’t learn to 
read ?” 

Then, with a parting embrace, she placed 


24 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


her pet gently on the great rock, where, in 
truth, she remained but the smallest fraction 
of a minute, for her eyes had seen a terrible 
sight, the Brown boys, known far and wide 
in kittendom, the especial terror of timid 
creatures like Fleecy, in the very act of pick- 
ing up stones. Who could doubt with what 
intent ? 

With a great palpitation of heart Kitty 
fled to the very top of the tallest poplar* 
Knowing her to be safe thefe, Bhoda went 
on, with the rest of the party, though she 
could not help feeling a little anxious till 
they were fairly out of sight. This was not 
soon, for on account of Bhoda’s infirmity they 
were obliged to walk slowly — too slowly for 
the exuberant spirits of the boys, who, spoil- 
ing for some new mischief which they de- 
nominated fun, started off on a race. Per- 
haps, too, they did not care to stay where 
they could longer feel the rebuke of Bhoda’s 
gentle presence. Calling them back for a 
moment. Miss Melvin gave them a somewhat 


HIBIPBACKED EHODA. 25 

rusty key, bidding them open the school- 
house. 

Kaise all windows,” she said, adding by 
way of explanation to the little girls, for Sam 
and Harry were already out of hearing, to 
let in the fresh air, you know.” 

Before they reached the school-house, they 
saw Alice coming, with her usual bound, 
down the hill from the opposite side, swing- 
ing her small tin pail, which glistened in the 
sunlight, as did her eyes with love-light when 
she heard them call her name. 

In one hand she carried a bouquet of cro- 
cuses and daffodils, which she eagerly pre- 
sented to Miss Melvin, who placed them 
lovingly in a tumbler on her desk, together 
with a handful of dandelions, the equally 
love-prompted offering of little Hannah 
Jones. 

On the stove, empty now and rusty look- 
ing, stood a pitcher which was not all a 
pitcher. The nose was gone, also the handle, 
which deficiencies being concealed by a deft 
3 


26 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


arraDgement of drooping flowers or overhang- 
ing sprays of leaves, quite an excellent vase 
had been improvised, which did duty all 
summer for huge bunches of apple and wild- 
cherry blossoms, these being preceded by shad- 
blows and boxwood, and followed by wild 
honeysuckle and mountain laurel. So all 
the long summer days the plain, unpainted 
school-room was brightened by gay floral 
tints from meadow and mountain, the eyes 
of both teacher and scholars made glad by 
the sight and the air redolent of sweetest 
fragrance. 

‘^Oh, Mith Melvin, mayn’t Tham Brown 
be thill thaking me ?” cried a small boy, just 
out of petticoats. Which interrogatory Miss 
Melvin answered by jingling an unmusical 
bell in the doorway. The sound put an end 
to the incipient quarrel, broke up a merry 
• game of Tag,” and brought all hands scram- 
bling into the house. Not that they came 
literally on all fours, but in a tumbling, 
somersetting, tangling mass, in which to an 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 27 

observer the individuality of any one boy or 
girl seemed irrevocably lost. 

But in the entry the mass dispersed. 
Caps and bonnets were hung on their respect- 
ive nails with surprising rapidity, and the 
owners scattered to their several seats, 
where Testaments were quickly produced and 
all was ready for the opening exercise. 

To Miss Melvin, as to most of the scholars, 
this had always been like any other mere les- 
son in reading. So the pauses were all ob- 
served, each scholar kept his or her place and 
the words were all rightly pronounced, the 
end was answered. 

Never before had she taken note of the 
great difference in faces during this exercise. 
This morning she noticed Phebe Gray’s look 
of pride as she finished her two verses, con- 
scious of being the best reader in school. 
She saw poor Susan Pond’s blushes of confu- 
sion when some long, unaccustomed word 
caused her to hesitate and stammer painfully. 
She caught the roguish twinkle in Sam 


28 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


Brown’s eye as he read, taking pains to be 
very distinct, “This is John the Papist, he 
is risen from the dead.” 

She saw, smiling within, the frantic en- 
deavours of Bennie, the small boy, to keep 
the place, and grew grave observing the total 
indifference of most to what they read. A 
compunctious thought smote her: was not 
this partly her fault ? 

Then her eyes rested on Alice and Ehoda, 
the former solemn and attentive, as at home 
she was taught to be when reading the word 
of God, but yet uninterested ; the latter in- 
tently dwelling on each verse with the eager- 
ness of one searching for hid treasure, her 
face now and then kindling into a joyful 
glow as some new light seemed to dawn on 
the words, giving them new meaning. 

“ Surely, the Book is more to her than to 
the rest of us,” was the teacher’s mental com- 
ment as she closed it and turned to the day’s 
routine of labour, in which she managed for a 
while to forget the unwelcome subject. 


CHAPTER V. 


*D APIDLY the hours of the forenoon pass- 
ed. The last class was on the floor, at 
the head of which stood Sam Brown, who, 
with all his mischievousness, was an ambi- 
tious boy and had held his high position for 
a long time. 

At an unlucky moment he missed a word 
in spelling, and Rhoda, advanced by dint of 
hard study to this class since the commence- 
ment of the term, spelled it correctly and 
went above* him. Not a shade of triumph 
appeared in her manner, but rather regret, 
while Sam in his chagrin made angry and 
scornful faces at her. Poor Rhoda would 
have stepped back and resigned the place to 
him again, but a decided shake of her teach- 
ePs head prevented the generous act. 

At precisely twelve o’clock the lesson- 
s'# 29 


30 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


weary and play-eager children burst from the 
school-room with a “ Hip ! Hurrah scatter- 
ing to their dinners and games, not unfre- 
quently combining the two sources of enjoy- 
ment, marbles in one hand and doughnuts in 
the other, or between bites depositing their 
bread and cheese on a rock to take their turn 
in Toss and Catch.” 

A group of girls gathered around the 
teacher. 

Oh, Miss Melvin, will you go with us to 
the glen this noon?” said^one. 

There^s such beautiful moss there !” said 
another. 

And lots of violets,” added a third. 

Yes, we’ll go to the glen,” said Miss Mel- 
vin. 

Accordingly, off they started, but had 
hardly reached the foot of the hill when 
Rhoda, saying she had forgotten something, 
went back to the school-house. Presently 
she reappeared, hastening as fast as her weak 
limbs would permit to rejoin her companions. 




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RHODA AND MISS MELVIN. 

Humpbacked Rhoda— p. 31. 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


31 


Go it, Humpty Dumpty !” called a sneer- 
ing voice round the corner of the school-house, 
and a stone came whizzing toward her. It 
hit her ankle and nearly threw her down. 
When she reached the others her face was 
white with pain, but she only explained by 
saying her ankle was hurt a little, and never 
told a word of what she had heard, and which 
they were too far off to hear. • 

So on the little party went to where by the 
gurgling brookside grew the violets, blue 
ones and white ones, in lovely profusion. 
On a mossy rock Miss Melvin was made to 
sit down, while the little girls, making 
baskets of their aprons, gathered handful 
after handful of the delicate blossoms and 
quantities of shining green leaves, which they 
made into bouquets for their teacher. Only 
Ehoda gathered none. 

Miss Melvin afterward knew that it was 
because her ankle pained her so much, but 
then she only thought it one of Ehoda’s silent 
moods, and suffered her head to lie quietly in 


32 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


her lap while she stroked back the dark hair 
from her white temples. 

Presently, recurring to their former con- 
versation, Miss Melvin said : 

Ehoda, I want you to tell me something. 
Was it always easy for you to bear the slights 
and taunts of your schoolmates 

Oh no, ma’am,’’ she answered. At first 
it was very hard; I felt very angry when 
they would not let me play with them, and 
called them ugly names when they twitted 
me about — about — my humpback.” 

^‘My poor, poor Ehoda!” whispered the 
pitying teacher ; and, after a pause, 

“ At first, you say ? When do you mean ? 
Tell me when you first began to feel differ- 
ently?” 

Oh, it was a long time ago. I had been 
one day with grandmother to Mrs. McDoyle’s, 
and you know that long mirror that hangs in 
her pretty parlour. I saw myself in it stand- 
ing by the side of Alice, and oh. Miss Mel- 
vin, I did not know till then I was so — so 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


33 


different. Grandmother’s looking-glass is so 
small, you know. I knew then why grand- 
mother always made me wear a little shawl 
when I went to school, even if it was sum- 
mer, and why the boys called me — You 
know what they call me. Miss Melvin. 
How I cried and cried all the way home! 
And when I got to the great rock by the 
poplar tree I threw myself down on it and 
cried harder still. By and by I heard Sam 
Brown coming whistling along, and then I 
lay quite still, with my face to the rock, for 
I was afraid of him. Then he came close up 
to me, and I heard him say, ^Asleep, eh? 
I’ll punch her up though, the little crook- 
back I’ Yes, that’s what he called me. Miss 
Melvin. And oh, I was so angry ! I flew 
I up and tried to strike him. But grandma’s 
i arm caught mine, and she lifted me up and 
! carried me into the house. Then she sat 
I down and rocked me, just as she used to 
I when I was a baby, for a long time. When 
I I got quiet at last and stopped sobbing she 


34 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


commenced and told me the story of Jesus, 
how he was scourged, and mocked, and spit 
upon, while He was so innocent and holy too, 
and He answered not a word, and how He 
was crucified by the cruel soldiers, and even 
on the cross prayed His Father to forgive 
them. 

Then she told me about that dreadful fall 
when I was a baby. They thought it had 
killed me, but I lived, and grandma said it 
was because God had something for me to 
do — that He had spared me that I might 
grow up to be like Jesus Christ; and was 
it being like Him to do as I had done that 
day? Miss Melvin, I cried again then for 
shame and sorrow. I saw how wicked it 
was to murmur at what God had permitted 
for some wise purpose, and how dreadful it 
was to fall into such an angry passion. I 
begged grandmother to pray that my sin 
might be forgiven, and that I might be will- 
ing to be just as He has made me. Ever 
since that night I have tried to remember 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


35 


Jesus, and when I am tempted to get angry 
at any one to be, like Him, forgiving. And 
then I shall not always have such a poor 
maimed body. See here!” — ^and she drew 
from her pocket her little Testament — ^^sea 
what I found this morning : ‘ But we know 
that when He shall appear, we shall be like 
Him, for we shall see Him as He is I’ Oh, 
Miss Melvin, what will it be to be like God, 
our heavenly Father ?” 


CHAPTER VI. 

TTERE the flower-gatherers came up, eager 
to display their treasures, but, struck by 
the pale yet beaming face of Rhoda, lying 
still in Miss Melvin’s lap, they hushed their 
noisy exclamations, and when Alice said. 
Oh, let’s make a wreath for Rhoda,” they 
all knelt softly round, and with tasteful 
fingers laid the fresh, beautiful blossoms like 
a crown around her head, here a bright blue 
forget-me-not, there a tiny white violet with 
purple veins, then a pink-tinted anemone, and 
between them all green leaves peeping out. 
Oh, ’twas too fair a picture to be so soon 
despoiled. But the hour’s nooning” was 
over, and reluctantly the happy party took 
their way back to the school-house. 

^^And we didn’t have time to read any, 
after all,” said Rhoda ; “ I thought it would 
36 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


37 


be so nice to read that chapter about the 
lilies down there by the brook, amongst the 
flowers. That’s why I went back after my 
Testament.” 

On her attempting to walk, it was found 
that Rhoda’s ankle was badly swelled. In- 
quiry into the matter convinced Miss Melvin 
that the stone which had hit it was thrown, 
and not, as she before supposed, accidentally 
rolled against it. Farther inquiry fastened 
the offence upon Sam Brown, who had taken 
this mean revenge for his morning’s defeat, 
and he was sentenced to be flogged, which 
punishment, in spite of Rhoda’s remonstrance, 
was summarily inflicted before the school as 
soon as the big farm wagon in which a ride 
home had been secured for her disappeared 
behind the trees. 

It is the only amends I can make, poor 
thing!” was the teacher’s reflection as she 
sat, after her pupils were all gone, leaning 
both elbows on her desk and resting her 
head in hel* hands. He deserved a sounder 


4 


38 


HUMPBACKED PvHODA. 


whipping than that, and I don’t believe 
there’s a scholar in school but would have 
rejoiced in it had they been in Rhoda’s place. 
But she — to think of her begging me not to 
do it ! She’s a strange child.” 

Thus she attempted to account for such 
unusual behaviour, but again the conviction 
forced itself upon her that there was some- 
thing in religion, that she had been not only 
foolish but wicked to disbelieve it, and even 
more so to reject the opportunity of securing 
it for herself. 

She had come to the Bearhill school from 
the midst of revival scenes in her own home 
in an adjoining town, where for years her 
father had maintained a course of opposition 
to everything religious. All her life she 
had heard the subject ridiculed, pronounced 
^^lumbug,” ^^unmitigated cant,” and its pro- 
fessors styled “ consummate hypocrites.” The 
revival Mr. Melvin had declared to be a silly 
farce, and effectually laughed his daughter 
put of any desire to participate in it. Fond 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


39 


of her father in the extreme, she suffered his 
scoffing words to outweigh the truth spoken 
in the house of God, the entreaties of Chris- 
tian friends anxious for her salvation, and 
even the pleadings of the still small voice in 
her inner soul. 

One bj one her young associates were 
brought into the fold of Christ, making 
fools of themselves,^^ Mr. Melvin deridingly 
said, while she remained without in apparent 
contentment with her condition. That she 
was not contented, in spite of her happy 
appearance and oft-repeated assertions, the 
walls of the little school-room had often 
borne witness wdien, as to-night, she sat by 
herself, thinking. Sometimes a letter from 
some of the rejoicing converts at home full 
of pleading — Come with us, come with us, 
Anna !” — had called forth a flood of envious 
tears. Sometimes a verse of the Bible would 
arrest her attenfton in the morning reading, 
and at night she would remain till the last 
daylight was gone reading and re-reading the 


40 


HUMPBACKED KHODA. 


chapter tjoiitaining it, and turning over the 
leaves of the sacred Book in the vague ex- 
pectation of finding something that would 
settle her doubts, for there was ever in her 
mind this unanswered query; ^^'VYKat if re- 
ligion should be true, after all? And if in- 
dispensable — ” 

Oftener the cause of her anxious meditation 
was some trifling act of Rhoda’s, small in it- 
self, but greatly significant, revealing springs 
of motive of which she was unconscious. In 
her simple, consistent piety of life the poor 
deformed girl was constantly speaking to the 
heart of her teacher in a more forcible man- 
ner than she could have done by words. 

^^That child is a Christian if there is not 
another in the whole world,” Miss Melvin 
often told herself. And not many days pass- 
ed when her own sinfulness, selfishness and 
ingratitude did not receive some rebuke from 
the Christ-like conduct of the little hump- 
back. 


CHAPTER VII. 


rpHE shadows lengthened while Miss Mel- 
vin still sat by her desk in deep thought. 
The scholars, even those who lived the most 
remote, had reached their several homes. A 
full half hour Alice McDoyle had been sit- 
ting at her mother’s side, unusually quiet, 
silent and serious. Mrs. McDoyle, accus- 
tomed to watch her daughter’s manner, knew 
that something was on her mind, and that it 
would soon be revealed. Between them there 
was that beautiful confidence and unreserve 
that one loves to see between mother and 
daughter. Alice, from a little child, had 
been in the habit of telling her mother all 
her thoughts. Kow, her heart was full of 
the wrongs of her chosen friend, and com- 
mencing at the beginning, she related the 
whole day’s history. Her cheeks glowed wit^i 
4 * 41 


42 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


indignation when she came to the part which 
Sam Brown had acted, and Mrs. McDoyle 
quite agreed with her that it was shameful 
and wicked. 

But, mother,” said Alice, I’m afraid it 
did not do Sam any good to be flogged, for 
after school I heard him swearing that he 
would pay Miss Melvin for it, and that he 
would kill Fleecy — that’s Bhoda’s kitten, you 
know — this very night. Oh dear !” 

After relating other grievances to which 
Bhoda was subject, and from that diverging 
to stories of various wickednesses to which 
her schoolmates were many of them addicted, 
even some of the girls — such as cheating 
about their lessons and telling falsehoods — 
she said, with a self-satisfied expression : 

never do so, mother. You know I 
would not do such things.” 

To which her mother had replied simply : • 
I hope not.” 

Then she was silent and serious again for 
a long time. Mrs. McDoyle knew there 


HUMPBACKED KHODA. 


43 


was yet something more disturbing Alice’s 
thoughts. At last it came : 

Mother, I want to know one thing: I 
don’t understand why it is that anybody so 
good and so sweet as Ehoda Fenn should 
have to suffer so much. Only think, mother, 
how poor they are !” 

Then in a pitying tone she described the 
meagre and homely dinners she had often 
seen Ehoda bring to school, and did not for- 
get to add how she had sometimes forced a 
part of her own bountiful and delicious ones 
upon her. 

I don’t think Ehoda has any presents at 
all,” she continued, nor books to read, as I 
have. And she is sick so very, very often, 
and then she has that ugly hump on her 
back. Oh, the boys do talk dreadfully some- 
times, and call her names, but she never gets 
angry, and is just as patient as can be. And, 
mother, she even told me the other day that 
she was almost glad she was ugly and de- 
formed, for she said that Jesus was not fine- 


44 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


looking, as other men, and that there’s a 
verse in the Bible about his being disfigured. 
You know what it is, mother. ‘ His — ’ ” 

^‘^His visage was so marred more than 
any man,’ ” said Mrs. McDoyle. 

Yes, that is it, but there is more.” 

‘^^And His form more than the sons of 
men.’ ” 

^^Yes, mother, and another verse says; 

^ He hath no form nor comeliness.’ But do 
you think it means what Bhoda said? — that 
Jesus Christ was not beautiful in person? 
Why, you know in my book of engravings 
all the pictures of Him are the finest-looking 
of all. And don’t you remember that large 
'engraving of Christ and St. John at Aunt 
Hmily’s? The face of Christ is perfectly 
lovely. It is more beautiful than an angel’s.” 

^‘Yes, Alice,” replied Mrs. McDoyle, 
know our Saviour is commonly represented 
as fair and beautiful, and this accords so well 
with our conceptions of His character that 
we can scarcely think it was otherwise, but 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


45 


there are the inspired words. And it may 
be that the sufferings to which Jesus was 
exposed caused His face to become worn 
and haggard and His form prematurely bent. 
You know we read of His hard and constant 
labour, long fasts that he endured, and cruel 
treatment, and what constant anxiety of mind 
He was under. It is more than probable 
that His person showed the effects of all this, • 
but then the beauty of soul which He pos- 
sessed as no other man ever did must have 
overspread the marred visage, and to His 
true disciples I think He was ever ^ fairer than 
the children of men,’ the ^ chiefest among ten 
thousand,’ the one ^altogether lovely.’ We 
sometimes see something like this in human 
faces. Can’t you think of any one you know, 
Alice, who is very plain — more than that, 
very homely, as she is called — yet whose face 
it is good to look upon ?” 

No, mother, I can’t think of any one.” 

Well, don’t you think old Scotch Jean- 
nie is a very ugly-looking person ?” 


46 HUMPBACKED EHODA. 

Why no, mother.’^ 

But think of her high cheek bones, and 
her misshapen mouth, with those two solitary 
teeth, and her skin so wrinkled and dark.” 

Oh, but her eyes, mother ! They are so 
soft and loving ! And when she smiles and 
calls me her ^ sweet bairn’ the wrinkles all 
seem to go away. I don’t think I ever see 
them, mother, and then don’t you know how 
she looks in church ? I’ve often watched her 
face when it was certainly beautiful.” 

It is the beauty of goodness you see, my 
daughter. I suppose your little friend Bhoda 
seems beautiful to you, does she not ?” 

Oh yes, indeed, mother. I don’t see how 
the boys can make fun of her. They 
wouldn’t if they knew her as well as I do, I 
am sure.” 

Do you know what is the secret of her 
loveliness, Alice ?” 

Alice did not answer. She knew well that 
between herself and Khoda there was a great 
difference. She had been thinking much 


HUMPBACKED KHODA. 


47 


about it, especially since one day some weeks 
before the opening of this story, when Ehoda 
had said to her, with that look of unutter- 
able peace she so often wore: ^^Oh, Alice, 
isn’t it sweet to trust in Jesus?” and Alice 
had found no response in her own heart. 

Mrs. McDoyle waited a few moments, will- 
ing that Alice should dwell a little upon her 
own thoughts. Then she said : 

You asked me, my daughter, why Rhoda 
should be made the subject of so much suffer- 
ing, and I have been thinking of the refiner’s 
fire alluded to in the third chapter pf Mala- 
chi. If you do not remember the passage, 
you may get your Bible and find it.” 

Alice read : ^ He shall sit as a refiner and 

purifier of silver.’ ” 

Do you know,” Mrs. McDoyle then con- 
tinued, ^^it is said that workmen in silver, 
when purifying it in the fire, watch it closely 
and do not take it out till they can see their 
own faces reflected in it ? So Christ is called 
a refiner of the heart, keeping it in the fur- 


48 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


nace of affliction till He can see His own im- 
age shining there. Now, if Rhoda, tried in 
all these different ways, is becoming purified 
from sin, her character growing holy and 
Christ-like, is not this what He desires and 
loves to see? But hearts are not always 
tried in the same way. It is very hard to 
bear sickness, poverty and misfortune, to be 
always patient and unrepining under troubles. 
But sometimes God tries us by blessings. I 
think He is trying you thus now, Alice. 
Think in what different circumstances He 
has placed you from those which surround 
Bhoda. He is watching to see how you will 
bear the test, whether you will give Him 
gratitude and love and the service of your 
life, or whether you will love yourself and 
sin — whether you will bear His image and 
be pure as He is pure, or remain covered 
with the dross of unrighteousness. "Which 
shall it be, Alice ?” 

She buried her face in her mother’s lap, 
thinking with shame and confusion of all her 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


49 


ingratitude and want of love to God, as well 
as of the hollowness of all the self-righteous 
acts in which she had thought herself better 
than others. Then there came to her mind 
the Gospel words, often read, but never felt 
before: ‘^Unto whomsoever much is given, 
of him shall much be required.” 

Begging her mother to pray for her, she 
retired to her own room filled with contrition 
and humility. There, on her knees, where 
she had often knelt before, but now for the 
first time really prayed, she confessed her sin 
and found peace in forgiveness. 

5 


CHAPTER VIII. 

T he next day Elioda was not at school, 
and the day following, being Saturday, 
Alice obtained permission to go and see what 
was the matter, though already pretty sure 
that the absence was caused by the injury 
to her ankle. Greatly to Alice’s delight, Mrs. 
McDoyle said : 

I think I’ll go with you, and we’ll carry 
something nice to Mrs. Pettibone and 
Rhoda.” 

A basket of good things was accordingly 
set in the carriage, and they were soon on 
their way up the mountain, Alice bearing 
flowers in her hands And a great joy in her 
heart wherewithal to cheer the heart of her 
darling friend. 

What passed between the two little girls in 
the small bed-room where Rhoda lay unable 
60 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


51 


even to sit up the two elder people talking 
together by the open door of the sitting-room 
never knew, but there was ^^joy in heaven 
among the angels of God,” who saw and bent 
earthward to listen. 

Riding silently home through the beautiful 
sunset light and falling shadows, Alice 
thought this had been the happiest day of 
her life. 

It was not very long before Rhoda was 
well again as usual, and the two friends 
walked lovingly together in their quiet, 
happy school-life, bound now by a new tie to 
each other, and growing daily in Christian 
loveliness. 

Uniformly correct and good as had always 
been Alice’s outward conduct, a marked 
change now appeared in it, a conscientious- 
ness that seemed to have other than her for- 
mer selfish motives, a love of doing right for 
right’s sake instead of love of praise, and a 
humility in all her actions quite in contrast 
with her former manner, which it must be 


62 HUMPBACKED EHODA. 

confessed had been sometimes more like the 
Pharisee than the publican. 

Miss Melvin marked this change in Alice, 
and was not slow to understand the cause. 

^^She is sweeter and lovelier than ever,” 
w^as her frequent soliloquy, ^^and if she, so 
near a saint before, needed religion, how 
much more I, who have been such a sin- 
ner !” 

As the weeks went by she watched the 
conduct of her two pupils, yielding daily to 
the conviction of their sincerity and genuine 
piety, envying their happiness and growing 
herself more and more miserable in her con- 
scious want of the same well-spring of joy. 
Her face was almost always clouded — cross, 
some of the scholars said — and her manner 
irritable. She felt no peace.” 

And the summer days passed on with but 
slightly-varying routine, many of them calm 
and quiet, when the tide of school-life flowed 
peacefully, and it seemed might thus go on 
for ever. 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


53 


Others came when the waves were broken 
and the very air seemed tempest-laden — days 
such as every teacher knows so well, when 
each hour strews a new wreck on the unquiet 
shore. 

Such a day was clearly portended one hot 
morning in July. Miss Melvin read its signs 
in the fretful faces of group after group of 
panting children assembled at the usual hour 
around the school-house, heated already by 
their walk or by vain attempts to engage 
in play. 

She heard a portentous sound, like the roll 
of far-off thunder, in the muttered exclama- 
tion of Sam Brown as he flung himself on 
the ground on the shady side of the house : 

I say, ain’t the teacher cross this morn- 
ing!” 

An actual faintness or sickness of heart 
came over her as sh^ unlocked the door and 
entered the school-room. Perhaps it was in 
part the dead and stifling air within, heavy 
with the odor of wilted flowers in the pitcher 


64 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


on the stove, or the sight of the previous 
day’s debris scattered on the floor — crumpled 
.pieces of scribbled paper, corners of geogra- 
phy leaves and spelling-books, intermingled 
with dandelion curls and twigs of birch. 
She had been too utterly weary the night 
before to attempt the customary sweeping, 
and certainly the place looked very uninvit- 
ing. Not less so was the appearance of her 
desk, which she found, with dismay, unac- 
countably deluged with ink, a small black 
stream even then creeping its dingy way be- 
tween the leaves of her register. 

To repair damages and settle the dust of 
cleaning up required so much time that it 
was long past nine o’clock before she was 
ready to commence school, and then, as it 
was so late, she told the scholars they might 
omit reading in the Testament and begin at 
once their studies. ^ 

She affected not to see the look of surprise 
with which Alice and Khoda received this 
announcement, but she could not fail to hear 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 65 

Sam Brown’s protest, delivered under his 
breath in the words — I say ! It’s too blaz- 
in’ hot to study !” 

A double lesson was immediately assigned 
to him as a punishment, whereupon he grew 
sullen, and seemed to be meditating the 
chances of escape through the open door, or 
possibly the window near his desk, through 
which the glaring sun was now pouring with 
constantly increasing heat. 

May I have some water ?” piped a little 
urchin on the lowest bench. Instantly every 
member of the school was choked with thirst. 

Whose turn is it to go after water to- 
day ?” inquired Miss Melvin. 

Sam Brown wished it was his. 

Mine ! mine !” answered two or three 
voices, but the owners were found to be boys 
with very short memories. The right one 
was absent, so Harry Brown was substituted, 
and after what appeared to the impatient 
scholars, and not less to the really thirsty 
teacher, an unreasonably long space of time. 


56 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


a bucket of fresh water from the spring stood 
in the entry. Harry was then commissioned 
to pass the water around, which he proceeded 
to do with not too steady a hand, spilling 
many a dipperful on the floor, besprinkling 
the rows of little bare feet, and even in his 
flrst essay, as he presented the brimming cup 
to his teacher, overturning the contents in 
her lap. 

This, in justice to Harry, it must be said, 
was accidental. Not so the manner in which 
Hannah Jones received a deluge of cold water 
down the neck of her dress, nor the sudden 
jerk by which Bennie Brooks in the act of 
drinking was forced to attempt swallowing 
the whole cupful at a draught, failing in 
M^hich, he became fearfully strangled, and 
might never have recovered but for a vigor- 
ous sliaking by the half-frightened teacher. 

This excitement being at last well over 
and all quiet once more. Miss Melvin applied 
herself to a class in arithmetic, striving to 
overcome her own languor and their dulness. 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


67 


She was just rejoicing in having secured the 
attention and interest of every one when the 
sound of stifled sobbing reached her ear, and 
she discovered Bennie frantically stuffing his 
apron into his mouth and pouring a perfect 
cataract of the largest possible tears down 
over his chubby, dirty hands. In endeavour- 
ing to find out what was the matter. Miss 
Melvin drew the folds of the apron out of 
his mouth, and with it came the long pent-up 
and no longer repressible scream, while his 
small frame shook all over in the excess of 
his distress. 

After waiting a little for this to subside, 
she again put the question, ^‘What’s the 
matter, Bennie?” 

With a spasmodic catch of his breath, Ben- 
nie half screamed, There was a— boo-hoo ! 
— a little — boo — a little poly wog — ^in* — in the 
— in the dipper — an’ I — I — I swallered it! 
Boo-hoo !” 

The combined energies of Miss Melvin and 
Bennie’s older sister were scarcely equal to 


58 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


the task of quieting and keeping quiet the 
poor boy’s fears and sobs during the remain- 
der of the morning session. Indeed, such 
had been his fright that their vehemence 
would hardly have been lessened the sooner 
had he heard Harry Brown’s confession to 
the boys at recess : 

’Twas only a piece of my old shoestring, 
but you’d ought to ha’ seen his eyes when I 
told him he’d drunk a poly wog !” 


CHAPTER IX. 

TTIGH noon that day found Bearhill 
school-house a perfect oven. What a 
glad escape it was from its heated walls and 
close atmosphere to the shady glen and the 
cool brookside ! Lying there on the green 
banks listening to the brook’s low ripple, or 
wading through its bed, whose cool, smooth 
stones beneath the feet were so refreshing, the 
oppressive sun was forgotten and the hour 
passed delightfully by. 

Far too short it seemed to both teacher and 
scholars, for whom it was equally hard to go 
back to slates and books and the unshaded 
confinement of the school-room. But one 
o’clock found them all in their places. Miss 
Melvin, somewhat refreshed by the noon’s 
rest, made an earnest effort to disprove the 
predictions of the morning, but it was fruit- 

59 


60 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


less. Her patience gave way before the list- 
lessness and inattention which had never 
seemed so trying as on this trying day. 
Never had the reading-classes committed 
such wholesale murder of the English lan- 
guage ; never had commas, periods and inflec- 
tions of all kinds been so entirely ignored.; 
never had words been so egregiously mispro- 
nounced. Even Phebe Gray, reading about 
the hymeneal nest in Tom Hood’s Lines 
to his Infant Son,” called it 'Ghe hyeneal 
nest” — a mistake, however, which none but 
the teacher appreciated, and she too wearily • 
to smile. And Sam Brown, whether from 
ignorance, carelessness or mischief it was dif- 
ficult to determine, read the concluding line, 
Play on ! play on ! my elephant John !” 

A breathlessness seemed filling all the air, 
a suffocating deadness, an oppressive languor, , 
that was irresistible. The scholars seemed ■ 
almost to gasp for breath sufficient to read at ) 
all. Still Miss Melvin persevered, and bade 
them turn to the next page and try one piece , 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


61 


more. It was entitled, “Elijah on Mount 
Horeb.’^ 

As the reader commenced the first verse a 
sudden shadow fell across his book, and a 
sound of distant thunder called the attention 
of all to the windows, whence they could see 
an angry cloud, unnoticed before. AYhile 
they looked it grew rapidly larger and dark- 
er. The whole sky was soon overcast and 
big drops of rain began to fall. A little hand 
was raised from the low bench. 

“ Be we a-doin’ to have a funder shower ?” 

Miss Melvin said “Yes,’^ but, such an 
occurrence being not very uncommon, bade 
the class go on with their reading, uncon- 
scious of the adaptation of the piece she had 
selected to the hour. They read ; 

“On Horeb’s rock the prophet stood, 

The Lord before him passed ; 

A hurricane in angry mood 
Swept by him strong and fast ; 

The forests fell before its force, 

The rocks were shivered in its course, 

God was not in the blast. 


6 


62 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


’Twas but the whirlwind of His breath 
Announcing danger, wreck and death. 

“ It ceased ; the air grew still ; a cloud 
Came, muffling up the sun, 

When from the mountain, deep and loud. 

An earthquake thundered on. 

The frighted eagle sprang in air. 

The wolf ran howling from his lair, 

God was not in the storm. 

’Twas but the rolling of His car. 

The trampling of His steeds from far. 

’Twas still again ; and Nature stood 
And calmed her ruffled frame. 

When swift from heaven a fiery flood 
To earth devouring came ; 

Back to its depths the ocean fled. 

The sickening sun looked wan and dead, 

God was not in the flame. 

’Twas but the terror of His eye 

That lightened through the troubled sky.” 

Between the verses there were involuntary 
pauses when the thunder, growing constantly 
deeper and deeper, and the lightning, becom- 
ing more and more vivid, caused the children 
to hold their breath in very fear and look 


HUMPBACKED BHODA. 


63 


anxiously toward their teacher. But she did 
not bid them stop, though by this time every 
eye was nearly blinded by the frequent and 
constant strokes, and the sound of their 
voices could scarcely be heard above the 
steady roll of thunder which burst every now 
and then into deafening peals. 

At the end of the third verse every book 
dropped, and ungovernable terror seized hold 
upon every soul as the storm grew fearfully 
wild and furious and the scenes on Mount 
Horeb seemed themselves being repeated. 
The crying children huddled around Miss 
Melvin, herself pale and terrified. All but 
two were there clinging to her chair, hiding 
their eyes from the piercing lightning in the 
folds of her dress and covering their ears 
with their hands. Alice and Rhoda sat to- 
gether in theisk own seat, their arms inter- 
twined and their heads resting one upon the 
other. 

They too were very pale, and Alice trem- 
bled excessively, while she heard distinctly the 


64 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


loud beating of E-hoda’s heart. But the lat- 
ter had whispered in her ear: ^'It is our 
heavenly Father. Will He not take care of 
us ? Let us ask Him.’^ And while the two 
heads had been bowed together on the desk 
before them a silent prayer had gone up from 
each heart, which the Father in heaven heard 
above the storm, and answered. 

No one had noticed the act save Miss Mel- 
vin, but she had seen and guessed its mean- 
ing. She knew why their lifted faces were 
calm, and in that hour of danger and, to her, 
soul-shaking fear coveted their trustful faith. 

A terrific crash that moment shook the 
very earth, and the building seemed to totter 
on its foundations. Every child was stunned 
and Miss Melvin herself stiffened by the 
electric shock. Down one side of the room 
the burning fluid took its flery way and pass- 
ed to a gigantic tree a few rods distant, shiv- 
ering it into innumerable fragments. 

Not for some time was the little frightened 
band aware of what had happened, but when 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


65 


consciousness came they saw with what an 
escape they had met, and shuddered while 
they waited for what yet might come. But 
this had been the culminating moment of the 
storm. Gradually the thunders grew less and 
less loud, the lightning less severe and fre- 
quent, and ithe rain ceased. 

At length, recovered in a measure from 
their terrible fright, the children picked up 
their fallen books, yet open at the spot where 
they had been reading, and Miss Melvin, 
glancing at the forgotten lesson, said softly : 
^^You may read the last verse in unison,” 
which they did with awed voices and manner 
I hushed and solemn. Miss Melvin could only 
listen to the low, subdued tones : 

I 

j “At last a voice all still and small 

i Kose sweetly on the ear, 

I Yet rose so shrill and clear that all 

I In heaven and earth might hear ; 

1 It spoke of peace, it spoke of love, 

1 It spoke as angels speak above, 

I And God Himself was there. 


66 


HUMPBACKED KHODA. 


For oh, it was a Father’s voice, 

It bade the trembling world rejoice.” 

To the listener's tempest-tossed soul there 
came then the voice ^^all still and smalP^ 
speaking peace. Long seeking rest and find- 
ing none, she came then to the Father, and 
His voice turned her trembling into rejoicing. 
In her heart there was a great calm, like that 
which followed the outward tempest, and as 
the sun, breaking at length through the 
clouds, spread a brilliant radiance over the 
landscape, so the beams of the Sun of Right- 
eousness lit her soul,, long in darkness, with ; 
heavenly glory. 1 

She told this to Alice and Rhoda after the 
close of school, with an arm around each and 
the light of a new love beaming from her 
eyes. ; 

I have found your Saviour,” she said, | 
and I want you to thank God for sending | 
me here to learn of you His preciousness.” 


CHAPTER X. 


TjlROM that time a new order of things 
prevailed at the Bearhill school. The 
cloud passed away from the teacher’s brow 
with the darkness from her mind, and the 
light of her inner peace and joy was reflected 
in her countenance. Even the small ones felt 
the change, and loved now to say their A, B, 
C’s to dear Miss Melvin, who had not always 
been gentle and patient with their tardy prog- 
ress. 

The morning Testament reading was no 
longer a dull and spiritless exercise. Her 
own increasing interest soon spread itself 
among all the scholars, and when a few 
mornings after the memorable thunder-storm, 
she asked them at close of the chapter to bow 
their heads upon the desks before them and 
repeat with her the Lord’s Prayer, every 

67 


68 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


head dropped and every voice was audible in 
the slow and reverent petitions. 

During the few weeks that remained of the 
term it was a happy school, and when the 
last day, unwelcome but inevitable, arrived 
there was a sore parting between teacher and 
pupils, many a tear was shed and promises of 
remembrance exchanged. It was especially 
grievous to Alice and Ehoda, who were sure 
they would never love another teacher as well 
as Miss Melvin. But she longed to go home 
that she might tell to her companions and 
friends what the Lord had done for her soul, 
and in the ardour of her new love and joy in 
God’s salvation she felt sure that even her 
father could not resist her testimony to its 
truth and blessedness. 

Autumn came with brilliant tints for the 
forests, harvests for the barns and fruits for 
the store-houses. The little Browns picked 
up apples, dug potatoes, husked corn, and at 
night made grinning ^^jack-o’-lanterns” of 
the yellow pumpkins that lay in a huge pile 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


69 


near the barn. Vacation was seldom too 
long for them, for they had little time to 
play, their thrifty father finding no end of 
chores for them to do, even after the crops 
were gathered in. But when autumn deep- 
ened ^nto winter, wheels began to rumble 
noisily over frozen ground and brooks to 
show shimmings of glistening ice, suggestive 
of skates and coasting, Sam and Harry, with 
the older brothers, Joe and Bob, as well as a 
score of other boys in the Bearhill district, 
not to mention as many girls, were quite 
ready for the reopening of school. Nor did 
they^onsider the amusements alluded to as at 
all incompatible with the pursuit of arith- 
metic, geography and spelling — on the con- 
trary as essential and delightful accessories. 

So, one frosty morning in the early part of 
December, a great fire was kindled in the 
rusty box-stove; the noseless pitcher was 
consigned to the obscurity of the woodshed 
corner; the floor was tidily swept, desks 
dusted, and a new teacher — this time a gen- 


70 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


tleman, fierce of countenance (so thought the 
little ones) and full as tall as Goliah — took 
the throne tutorial. 

When the school had come to order in 
obedience to a vigorous rap on the teacher^s 
desk with his heavy ruler, he saw tl^ last 
summer’s pupils all there — Alice McDoyle, 
her fair, lovely face fairer and lovelier than 
ever ; Rhoda, with her old sweet smile and 
eyes of perfect content ; little Bennie, of poly- 
wog memory ; the little boy that lisped ; the 
young Browns, with their former stock of 
roguery indefinitely multiplied, as evinced by 
their dancing eyes ; their two older broilers, 
J oe and Bob, chips from the same block ; and 
a host of new scholars, besides, all eager to 
open the winter’s campaign. 

The last part of the summer term had been 
a season of unalloyed enjoyment to our little 
humpback. . Her gentleness had won the 
hearts of nearly every scholar, and if there 
were some who in thoughtlessness or perverse 
ity still offered an occasional taunt, it was at 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


71 


the cost of a well-merited punishment from 
Miss Melvin, whose precepts thus inculcated 
had wrought a salutary change in this respect 
in the school. 

But another king arose who knew not ” 
Bhoda. So chuckled Sam Browm to himself 
as, under the new administration, he saw 
little acts of indignity toward Bhoda go un- 
rebuked by the new teacher, and grew bold 
himself in copying them, for he had not for- 
gotten his old grudge and promised vengeance. 
These did not proceed from the old pupils, 
who had learned to love the unfortunate or- 
phan too well, but from rough and ugly boys 
among the new ones. They were sly and un- 
frequent at first, but became open and unre- 
strained as the teacher, who was not unfeeling, 
but unobserving, did nothing to check them, 
and Bhoda never complained. Had the per- 
petrators of them watched the meek face of 
the poor girl, pale with the hurt of some de- 
risive speech, but never angry or resentful,* 
they would surely have been arrested in their 


72 


HUMPBACKED KHODA. 


cruel sport. But they delighted to call up a 
flush iu Alice’s pretty cheek and the indig- 
nant fire in her eye, to ridicule the two friends’ 
fondness for each other, and to provoke the 
cries of Shame ! shame ! It’s too bad !” from 
the helpless smaller scholars. 

But there was one among them who seem- 
ed troubled with qualms of conscience on this 
subject. Joe Brown, naturally kind of heart 
and struck with a sense of the injustice of 
such conduct, stood aloof. At first he simply 
remained silent when Humpty Dumpty’s 
crooked figure and funny crippled gait be- 
came the subject of amusement, but this was 
not long sufficient. As he saw more of her 
lovely character, in his better acquaintance 
with her during their long walks to and from 
school every day, his respect for her increased, 
and a sort of tenderness came over his manner 
toward her, for Joe had a heart within him, 
and it was touched by the sight of her weak- 
ness and infirmity, and yet more by her 
patient endurance of it. 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


73 


When the road was rough or the snow deep 
he gently lifted her over the hard places, and 
many a morning, when otherwise she would 
have been kept at home, Joe appeared at the 
door with his hand-sled, on which his own 
little sister was already snugly curled up, and 
the two were taken swiftly yet safely down 
the slippery hill to school. If the weather 
was very cold, his big mittens were drawn 
over hers, and his tippet tied round her neck. 
So she became in some sort Joe’s prot^g^e, 
and greatly did she rejoice in the sense of 
protection it gave her from Sam’s mischiev- 
ous persecutions. Fleecy, too, was quite safe 
now, Sam being kept in awe by a direful 
threat if he touched a single hair. So at 
school Joe could not long endure the treat- 
ment to which Rhoda was at times subjected, 
and at length became her champion in good 
earnest. It was on his sled that she always 
had a snug, safe place in their coasting frolics, 
and no one dared object, though many covet- 
ed the place. 

7 


74 


HtJMPBACKED KHODA. 


“Come on, Ehoda!” he called out, one 
noon-time, when the coasting was particular- 
ly splendid ; “ we’ll have the first slide.” 

Hastening to do the welcome bidding, her 
foot slipped and she fell at full length on the 
icy ground. 

“ Hurrah ! Humpty Dumpty had a great 
fall ! Go it again !” shouted one of the rough- 
est boys. The next instant his breath was 
fairly taken away by a great blow on the side 
of the head, from the fist of Joe Brown, which 
sent him reeling to the foot of the hill, where 
a huge drift received him, plunged to his arm- 
pits in the smothering snow. There was no 
retaliation, for Joe, besides being the oldest 
and largest, was also the stoutest, boy in 
school. After that they became circumspect, 
and calculated their proximity to Joe’s aveng- 
ing fist before venturing on any similar 
speeches. 


CHAPTER XI. 


"OUT notwi|(istanding Joe’s care and help 
in her daily walks and grandma’s nurs- 
ing at home, Rhoda grew pale and thin, and 
days came often when she could not go to 
school at all. She seemed like a shadow of 
something beautiful, and in looking upon her 
one forgot everything but the almost heaven- 
ly expression of her large dark eyes. She 
grew so light that often, going home from 
school, too tired and strengthless to walk un- 
aided, stout J oe Brown took her in his strong 
arms and carried her quite to her grand- 
mother’s kitchen, where he ,would set her 
down as gently as if she had been made of 
the most fragile wax-work. 

Having deposited her tenderly there one 
still, quiet afternoon in January, he started on 
the run for the farm-house, for it was getting 


76 


HUMPBACKED KHODA. 


dark even earlier than usual this short win- 
ter’s day. The sky was heavily clouded over, 
and already snow was beginning to fall. All 
night it came noiselessly down, filling every 
nook and cranny and piling in drifts across 
the road, wholly hiding the fences from sight. 
Bhoda could scarcely see out of her low bed- 
room window when she waked in the morn- 
ing, and was almost ready to sigh when she 
saw the prospect of a long day at home before 
her. 

But before eight o’clock a brisk Gee up. 
Bright!” the same that in the spring-time 
used to rouse Miss Melvin from her slumbers, 
drew Mrs. Pettibone and Bhoda to the door, 
where they found Joe, with his stout cattle, 
and ^Ghe steers” besides, yoked to the big 
^led, breaking a path. 

^‘Wrap her up, Mrs. Pettibone, and Pll 
■take her down to school snug as a bug in a 
Tug.” So she went. 

From other directions came other ox-teams 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


77 


and sleds, making paths to the school-house, 
so that at the usual hour the entire number 
of scholars was there in spite of the deep 
snow, and all in high glee, for well they 
loved the sports which such a state of things 
promised — snow-balling, fort-building and 4 
bombarding. 

The sun was out in great ^rilliancy all day, 
and with so much* heat as by noon to put the 
snow in just the right state to be moulded at 
pleasure. Various were the structures that 
grew up beneath the ingenious hands of the 
half-crazy boys. Sometimes a miniature 
bridge with rounded arches drew shouts of 
admiration from the appreciating crowd. 
Then a castle with towers and turrets stood' 
admired for a few moments, and was battered 
down by snow-made shot and shell. Then 
the more skilful attempted statues. An In- 
dian with feathers in his hair brandished a 
clumsy tomahawk for a little while, then by 
a few changes was transformed into a crown- 
ed king, with a long icicle for a sceptre, who 


78 


HUMPBACKED KHODA. 


ia his turn was dethroned to give place to 
George Washington. 

“ Three cheers,” shouted Joe Brown, “ for 
the Father of his Country!” And merrily 
they rang out on the wdnter air. 

When these had died out and the cry for 
something new began to be heard from the 
clamorous throng, some of the girls watching 
with eager delight the spol’t suggested : A 
woman I Oh, make a woman with a bonnet 
on!” which feat being successfully accom- 
plished, a burst of applause resounded from 
all quarters and found a tiny echo inside the 
school-room, where with faces pressed close 
against the window-pane stood Alice and 
’Rhoda, the latter too feeble now to engage in 
out-door sport and Alice unwilling to leave 
her. 

When the figure of the old woman stood 
out in its white, jagged outline, Rhoda clap- 
ped her small white hands together, and two 
merry laughs filled the school-room with 
ringing music. Joe must have heard it, for 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


79 


he came with two or three long strides to the 
window, and, raising it, begged the girls to 
come out just for a few minutes. He wanted 
to introduce them to ^^the old damsel.” 
During the pause in the sport which this 
occasioned, and while Joe’s back was turned, 
Sam, having rolled together a great armful 
of snow, crept slily up behind the image and 
deposited it on its back, at the same time giv- 
ing the head a shove which planted it square 
upon the shoulders. 

^^Plurapty Dumpty, as I live!” shouted 
one of the big boys. 

Humpty Dumpty I Hurrah !” was echoed 
by others, vociferously. 

Joe turned instantly, just in time to catch 
sight of the retreating form of his wicked 
brother, but not until Khoda had already 
seen the cruel transformation. She sunk 
back from the window, and leaned a moment 
upon Alice. Then, with a quick, pleading 
gesture, she caught the sleeve of Joe, who 
with flashing eyes and an angry mutter was 


80 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


just starting in pursuit of the sneaking boy 
fleeing in wholesome fear of his brother’s in- 
dignation : Don’t strike him, Joe, please 
don’t,” and the petition prevailed. Sam after- 
ward knew this, and would have given 
worlds to take back that hour’s work. 

E-hoda was not at school the next day, nor 
the next, nor ever again. Joe nevermore 
carried the frail little figure up the rugged 
mountain side or took her riding on his swift- 
running sled. Sam never again wounded her 
poor, sore heart by words or deeds of unkind- 
ness. Her pale, wan face was missed from its 
place in the school-room, and Alice felt a 
great desolation in her heart. The reply to 
an anxious inquiry, put tremblingly to her 
mother after an early visit to the brown cot- 
tage, dashed all her hopes, and she knew that 
her darling Ehoda was surely fading from 
earth. How this conviction was deepened 
when, being permitted to go herself ‘to the 
sick room, she took the emaciated hand and 
looked upon the wasted face of the friend she 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


81 


loved so well ! In an uncontrollable burst 
of grief she buried her face in the pillow, and 
Ehoda whispered: ^^Poor Alice Yes, it 
was no longer Poor Ehoda 

Glad, happy Ehoda ! She would soon be 
with the angels, where, she told Alice again 
and again, she would be straight and beau- 
tiful like them.” ^^And oh, I shall be like 
the blessed Saviour; for I shall see Him as 
He is.” 

As she went on to speak of the joy this 
would be and of all the glory of the heavenly 
world, a glimpse of which she seemed already 
to have caught, Alice grew calm and comfort- 
ed. She thought how sweet it must be to 
Ehoda to lay down her life so weary, her 
body so weak and suffering, and be at rest in 
the peaceful home above. It seemed then 
the hand of a loving Father taking His dear 
child away from earth^s sorrow and pain to 
His owil bosom, where she might for ever lean 
and be at peace. 

She almost caught the rapture of her dying 


82 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


friend as together they looked across the dark 
river and heard almost the song of the wait- 
ing angels on the other shore. Alice left the 
humble room feeling as if she had been oa 
the very verge of heaven. 


CHAPTER XII. ' 


A FEW weary, painful weeks she linger- 
ed — weeks of bodily anguish, but of 
spiritual ecstasy. The members of Bearhill 
school, now that she was no longer there, but 
lay dying so peacefully in her grandmother’s 
cottage, knew that an angel had walked 
among them. Her name w^as spoken softly, 
and from day to day the mournful words 
went round, She’s no better.” She’s not 
so well, they say.” Many a message of love 
was sent her, and token of sympathy. 

Xone were so anxious to do something for 
her as Sam Brown. Struck with remorse for 
his cruel conduct, he sought in every possible 
way to make amends, and hovered around 
Mrs. Pettibone’s door, on the constant watch 
for some errand to run or some work to do 
which might be useful to them, the perpetual 

83 


84 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


inquiry in liis face, if not on his lips, How 
is she now 

Every few days he brought fresh apples 
from his father’s cellar to be roasted for the 
invalid, and occasionally a bowl of custard he 
had begged from his mother. To these were 
added delicacies of all sorts from the parson- 
age, with everything that loving hearts could 
devise to cheer and comfort her. All this 
made her happy, though it could not take 
away her pain or give her strength, but what 
most rejoiced her heart was Sam’s altered 
conduct. 

E-hoda,” said her grandmother one day, 
^^Sam wants to see you. Shall I let him 
come ?” 

Oh yes !” she answered, gladly, and as he 
entered the room smiled sweetly upon him — 
her own old smile, with something heavenly 
in it now. 

Coming nearer, he stood still with utter 
astonishment at the changed countenance, 
and, not daring to take the thin white hand 


HUMPBACKED EHODA. 


85 


extended toward him, dropped into a chair 
by the bedside and covered his face with his 
jacket sleeve, the words he had been longing 
to say sadly choking him : 

^'Fm so, so sorry! Oh can you forgive 
me ? Can you, Rhoda ?” 

^^Oh, Sam,” said the feeble voice, “IVe 
already forgiven you” — words which the 
really penitent boy caught eagerly. He had 
been afraid she might die before he could ask 
the dreaded question. Reassured, he ven- 
tured to look up, and saw through contrite 
tears the loving smile with which the dying 
girl added ; And I have prayed God to for- 
give you, too, Sam, and to make you one of 
His dear children.” 

He was growing accustomed to the deathly 
pal lour of her face and the hollow eyes, but his 
own fell now, and he pulled uneasily at the 
buttons on his jacket. 

Sam,” Rhoda began again, taking a small 
Bible from under her pillow. She hesitated 
a moment. This precious book she had in- 
-8 


86 HUMPBACKED RHODA. 

tended to leave with her beloved Alice as her 
only legacy, but a new thought, which after 
a moment she fully accepted, came to her 
mind. 

“ I want to give you my Bible, Sam,” she 
said, and I want you to promise that you 
will read it every day’^ 

I will,” the boy answered, then took the 
book reverently from her hand and left the 
room with a holy and lifelong purpose in his 
soul. 

During the days that followed, Rhoda 
grew gradually weaker and thinner, happier, 
too, as she neared the heavenly city. In 
sweet serenity of soul she waited the opening 
of its pearly portals, and so gently was loosed 
the silver cord that bound her spirit here that 
the aged watcher by her bedside scarce could 
tell the moment of its departure. 

Bending above the cold lips, she fancied 
she saw them moving again, framing the 
words so lately and so fervently breathed 
from them; shall be satisfied when I 


HUMPBACKED RHODA. 


87 


awake in Thy likeness/^ but they were still. 
She was satisfied. An angel form and harp 
and crown of gold were hers. And she was 
like the blessed Saviour, for she saw Him 
face to face. 

The bereaved old grandmother closing 
gently the sightless eyes; Alice listening to 
the strokes of the tolling bell numbering the 
eleven short years of her life ; Miss Melvin 
reading the letter which conveyed to her the 
not unexpected news, — each said : It is well. 
She is equal with the angels now.” 

A grave was made her in the old church- 
yard, and thither the children of the Bearhill 
school for many a summer wandered at noon- 
time, talking of her lovely life, scattering 
flowers above her that drooped as she droop- 
ed, and cherishing in their hearts a sweet and 
holy memory. 


THE END. 


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